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Payne & Fears obtained an order striking the representative PAGA claims from a statewide wage-and-hour action, thus reducing size of the case from over 250,000 members to a mere handful of individual claims.

Five former employees sued Payne & Fears’ client, a large multistate retailer, for meal and rest period violations and related causes of action. Plaintiffs sought to certify a class of over 250,000 current and former employees, and also sought to maintain claims for PAGA penalties on behalf of the same population. The...

In a case brought in federal court under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) against our client, a national retailer, and its group health insurance plan for denial of an expensive surgery as not medically necessary, the court ordered briefing on the appropriate standard of court review. In ERISA cases, the standard of review is very important to determine whether the court will defer to the plan’s determination. Plaintiff filed a motion arguing for de novo review based on a California Insurance Code section he claimed negated the plan’s language requiring abuse of...

Ben Nix, Scott Luskin, and Robert Matsuishi of Payne & Fears LLP recently obtained a victory in favor of their client, SpaceX, before the California Court of Appeal which upheld the dismissal of certain claims against SpaceX by an unlicensed contractor.

In Phoenix Mechanical Pipeline, Inc. v. Space Exploration Technologies Corp., No. B269186 (2017 WL 2544856) (Cal. Ct. App. June 13, 2017), a published opinion, the Court of Appeal for the Second Appellate District ruled that plaintiff’s claims for contracting services were barred by...

In 2014, Craftwood, a regional hardware and lumber chain, sued power tool manufacturer, Senco, in the Northern District of Illinois claiming that between 2010 and 2014 it had been targeted in a “fax blasting” campaign advertising Senco’s air compressors, nail guns and other tools. The cover page of the fax contained the message “Attention Senco Dealers!! NEW!!!!!!!! AIR COMPRESSOR AND 3...

Payne & Fears obtained a major victory in the Travelers insurance collection litigation in a decision released by the New Jersey Appellate Division on March 10, 2017. The appellate court completely reversed a 2015 trial court dismissal of claims by former shareholders of Clarendon Insurance Group in their attempt to collect a $92 million Bermuda judgment. The court rejected the insurers' arguments that the shareholders were bound by a default rescission judgment Travelers had obtained in Bermuda in an attempt to avoid paying the shareholders' own Bermuda judgment. The court then...

Irvine office partner Scott S. Thomas, and associate Sarah J. Odia of the Las Vegas office, recovered more than $2 million dollars from a group of additional-insured carriers for a major home builder in reimbursement of costs incurred to defend a high-exposure construction defect lawsuit, plus 100% of Payne & Fears LLP's costs incurred pursuing the litigation. By utilizing their connections within the insurance industry, and by employing creative legal strategies - including early case evaluation and mediation - Payne & Fears LLP was able to recover the entire amount uncommonly...

In late July, the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ended a 23-year bid by a retired employee of the world's largest aerospace company to force the company's pension plan to retroactively recalculate decades of pension benefits she and other retirees commenced while working. The plaintiff, one of the original "Rosie the Riveters" who riveted planes during WWII, and who recently retired from making C-17s at the age of 95, claimed that her and other participants' pension benefits had been underpaid since at least 1989. In 2015, Payne & Fears LLP prevailed on a summary judgment...

Payne & Fears obtained complete summary judgment on claims brought by a former employee in federal court in Idaho. The employee, a former truck driver, alleged that she was discriminated against due to her gender and due to a disability resulting from a work-related injury, and in retaliation for filing a workers’ compensation claim arising from the injury. She brought seven claims under Idaho and federal law. The employer, a mining company, argued that the employee was accommodated by placing her in an office position, and that she was laid off due to economic difficulties because...

Payne & Fears LLP defeated a race discrimination case brought to federal court in Salt Lake City, Utah for a large hotel and hospitality company. The employee alleged that his hours were reduced because of his race, and that he was ultimately was terminated because the employer hired an employee who was not African American and assigned him all of his work. Payne & Fears obtained complete dismissal of the case at the pleading stage in district court. The employee appealed to the 10th Circuit, which affirmed the district court’s decision in full. Finally, the employee filed a...

Members of the Payne & Fears Insurance Group were written up in the May 2015 edition of the "Mealey's Litigation Report: California Insurance" when commercial general liability insurers failed to assert any claims for breach of the cooperation clause of the insurance agreement or for equitable reimbursement. A California federal magistrate judge granted a dismissal of claims against additional insureds regarding a defense in an underlying construction defects case in Travelers Property Casualty Company of America, et al. v. Centex Homes, et al.